We Changed Our Minds
by millstone1005
Summary: Sandy and Kirsten change their minds about letting Ryan go to Chino with Theresa. A what-if story for 1.27 'The Ties That Bind'.


Title: We Changed Our Minds

Summary: Sandy and Kirsten change their minds about letting Ryan go to Chino with Theresa.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to _The O.C._.

Author's Notes: I know that everyone and her sister is writing a post-finale story about how Ryan and Seth come back home. Well, I figured _what the hell_. Here's mine.

* * *

Sandy sat on the bed in the pool house comforting his wife. He hadn't seen her cry her eyes out like this in... well... since her beloved mother died 10 years ago. He kind of felt like crying, himself. Now that Ryan was actually out the door and on his way to Chino with Theresa, he missed him fiercely.

Sandy looked around at the empty pool house. He could see all the things that they had bought for Ryan that he didn't take with him to Chino - his CD player, his soccer ball, ... Sandy was suddenly resolved not to let this happen. Ryan belonged here, with them. It was time for Sandy to be a real parent to Ryan. He'd never let Seth do anything like this, and he shouldn't let Ryan do it, either.

Sandy thought about what Kirsten said about Theresa deciding to have an abortion, then changing her mind. She had said that Theresa had made all of her decisions all of a sudden. The same thing was happening here with Ryan going to Chino. Ryan made the decision too quickly, without talking it out with him and Kirsten. Well, that could still be fixed.

Sandy looked down at Kirsten, who had her face buried in his chest. "Kirsten? Honey?"

Kirsten picked her head up and looked Sandy in the face. She was still crying, but not as hard as a few minutes ago.

Sandy continued, "We're not going to let this happen like this. I'm going to call Ryan and get him back here. We need to talk this out. We can convince him to stay."

Kirsten pushed herself back up into a sitting position. She reached up and wiped the tears off her face. She looked at her husband with hope in her eyes. "Really? You really think you can convince him?"

"He and Theresa probably aren't in Chino yet. She can turn around and drive the both of them back here, so we can talk about their situation, as a family. I have some ideas about how to make this work."

Kirsten was skeptical. "He didn't listen to you when you tried to talk to him earlier..."

Sandy frowned. He regretted how he handled his talk with Ryan earlier, before the wedding. He shouldn't have let Ryan talk him out of what he knew was right. Sandy was determined not to let that happen again.

"Yeah, well, I made a mistake. I handled that badly. Now I want to do it right. And you know what? Even if we can't convince him, we're his guardians, and as I told Ryan recently, that means we get to call the shots, not him. We can just not let him go. And that's what we're going to do, if necessary."

Kirsten smiled at Sandy. That's what she wanted to hear all along. She reached over and hugged her husband tightly, and Sandy hugged her back. After a moment, they uncoupled and stood up. Kirsten turned and put the dirty sheets that she had been holding back down on the bed. They could change the sheets later, when Ryan was back.

Sandy took Kirsten's hand and led them both back into the kitchen, where he picked up the phone and called Theresa's cell phone.

* * *

Ryan and Theresa were still on the road, on the way to Chino, in Theresa's little yellow convertible. They had hardly talked the entire way. Ryan spent most of the time staring out the window.

When Theresa's cell phone rang, she handed her purse to Ryan so that he could get it out. She didn't want to do it herself while she was driving. Ryan opened up Theresa's purse and dug around for her phone. Once he had it, he took it out and looked at the caller id. He recognized the number.

"It's the Cohens."

Theresa nodded. "Obviously it's for you, then."

When the phone continued to ring, Theresa looked over at Ryan. He was just staring at the phone. "Go ahead. Answer it."

Ryan took a quick look at Theresa, who had turned back to watch the road. He took a deep breath then flipped open the phone and answered it. "Hey."

It was Sandy. "Ryan, good. You're still on the road, right?"

"Yeah, we're on the 91. Why?"

"I want you and Theresa to turn around and come back."

"What? Why? Is something wrong?"

Sandy sighed. "Ryan, we changed our minds. Kirsten and I don't want you to move back to Chino. We want you and Theresa to come back and we'll all discuss this, as a family. We'll work something out."

"Sandy --"

"Ryan, come back. At the very least, you can't go there today. We have to talk about this, figure out what's best for everyone."

Ryan tried again, "Sandy --"

Sandy couldn't let Ryan talk him out of it, not this time. "No, Ryan, we're not going to do this on the phone. You can argue with me when you get home."

Ryan sighed. "Just a sec."

Ryan put his hand over the phone and turned to Theresa. "Sandy wants us to turn around and go back to Newport." When Theresa gave him a quick worried look, Ryan quickly continued, "Don't worry, nothing's wrong. Sandy and Kirsten... They... They want to talk this out some more, with us, about what to do... about the baby..."

Theresa was confused. "I thought this was settled. I thought they said you could come with me to Chino."

Ryan shrugged. "Apparently they changed their minds."

"I guess we'd better go back, then."

"We don't have to --"

Theresa sighed. "Ryan, the Cohens are like your parents now. We'd better do what they want."

Ryan reluctantly agreed. He knew that if he ignored his legal guardians' wishes and just went and moved to Chino without permission, legally that would be considered running away, which violated his probation.

Ryan went back to the phone. "Yeah, OK, Sandy. We're turning around."

"Great! So we'll see you two in, what, half an hour? 45 minutes?"

"Something like that."

"Good. Thank you, Ryan. You made the right decision. I promise, we'll work something out. Everything's going to be OK."

"Yeah, OK." Ryan hung up the phone.

Sandy put the phone down. He was happy. They were going to get Ryan back, and this time Sandy was determined to convince his ward to accept their help.

After Sandy told her the good news about Ryan coming home, Kirsten headed upstairs to Seth's room to share the news with him. She knew that her son was really upset. She knew that Seth thought of Ryan like the brother that he never had, and he took it hard when Ryan decided to leave.

Kirsten knocked on Seth's door. When she didn't get an answer, she figured he was either listening to some loud music using earphones and didn't hear her, or he didn't want to see anyone and was ignoring her. She knocked again, louder.

"Seth? I have some good news. I'm coming in, OK?"

Kirsten opened the door slowly and walked in. "Seth?"

She was surprised to see that her son wasn't there. Had he gone out without telling them? Then she saw the envelopes. Two little white envelopes on his night table, at the feet of his favorite toy horse, Captain Oats. One said _Mom & Dad_, and the other said _Summer_. With some trepidation, Kirsten reached out and picked up the one for her and Sandy. She carefully opened it and as she read it, she started to cry again.

* * *

When Ryan and Theresa arrived back at the Cohen house, Ryan grabbed his backpack and duffle bag from Theresa's trunk. He knew that he was going to be staying, for at least a little while. He was a little angry at Sandy, and Kirsten but mostly Sandy, for telling him he could go then turning around like 30 minutes after he left and telling him he couldn't. He thought that Sandy had understood and accepted that he had to go to Chino and be with Theresa.

When Ryan walked through the front door, with Theresa right behind him, he was prepared to get into a yelling match with Sandy right away, but what he saw stopped him in his tracks. Kirsten and Sandy were sitting in the livingroom. They were obviously very upset, and Ryan could see that Kirsten had recently been crying. He figured that this wasn't about him, since he was doing what they wanted and came back.

Since his guardians hadn't looked up when he and Theresa entered, Ryan got their attention. "Hey."

They looked up. Sandy replied, "Hey."

Ryan dropped his bags and walked down the steps into the livingroom. "What's wrong? This isn't about me, right?"

Kirsten replied, tearfully, "Seth's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"He took off on his boat, for Tahiti."

"What? Just now? Why? I thought he wasn't going to go."

Kirsten silently held out the note that Seth had left them. Ryan walked around the couch, took it from her, and sat down to read it. He couldn't believe it. "Seth left because of me?"

Ryan looked up at Kirsten and Sandy, hoping that they would deny it or something, but they just looked at each other and then at him. They didn't deny it.

Sandy told him, "We called the marina, and his boat is already gone. We've tried calling his cell, repeatedly, but he won't answer. We've considered calling the police and the coast guard, but they probably won't do anything since he's 17 and an expert sailor, at least not right away. And we'd like to get him to come back without involving the police, if we can. We're considering trying to go after him ourselves, with Caleb's yacht."

Kirsten leaned forward, "Ryan, maybe you can get him to come back, now that you're back. Would you call him?"

"Sure, of course." Although Ryan wasn't so sure about the _now that you're back_ part. "But if he's screening his calls based on caller id, how will he know it's me? I don't have my own phone..."

Theresa had followed Ryan into the livingroom and had sat beside him on the couch. Now she handed Ryan her cell phone. "Use mine. He knows you're with me, he'll figure it's you."

Ryan smiled at Theresa and took her phone. He dialed Seth's cell phone number. After several rings, he heard, "Ryan? Is that you?"

"Seth! Thank god! What the hell are you doing? Your parents are freaking out."

"What, did they call you?"

"No, I'm at your house. They're really upset. You have to turn around and come back." Ryan smiled to himself. That sounded familiar.

"You're at the house? Why? They called you and dragged you back to convince me to come home? Well, I'm not coming. There's nothing left there for me any more."

Ryan looked at Sandy. "No. They called me and dragged me back because they took back their permission for me to go to Chino."

"What? You're not going to Chino?"

Sandy stood up and held out his hand to Ryan. "Let me talk to Seth."

Ryan handed over Theresa's phone.

"Seth? Just come home, OK? Your mother and I love you and we want you here with us."

"Dad? What about Ryan? Is he staying?"

Sandy looked at Ryan. "Ryan's not going anywhere. Come home."

Seth sighed. "Yeah, OK, Dad. I'm turning around."

Sandy smiled. He looked behind him at Kirsten and gave her the thumbs-up. Kirsten smiled back.

"That's great! Do you want us to pick you up at the marina or anything?"

"Yeah, probably. I'll call you when I get in."

"OK. Have a safe trip back."

"OK." Seth hung up the phone.

Sandy gave Theresa her cell phone back. Kirsten stood up and hugged Sandy. Then she looked at Ryan and Theresa still sitting on the other couch. She let go of Sandy and sat back down, pulling Sandy down with her. Kirsten and Sandy faced Ryan and Theresa.

Kirsten started, "Now that Seth's coming home, we need to talk about you."

Ryan addressed Sandy, "You told Seth I wasn't going anywhere. So I guess you've already made up your mind. What's there to talk about?"

Sandy replied, "Ryan, just hear us out, OK?"

But Ryan was feeling his anger again. "I can't let Theresa do this by herself."

"No, of course not. You won't. We won't. But you don't have to go to Chino to do that."

"Theresa wants to be with her family, her mother."

"We completely understand that. Believe me." Sandy exchanged a quick look with Kirsten and addressed Theresa, "Theresa, I have an idea that could make this all work out. Would you like to hear it?"

Theresa replied, "Sure, of course, Mr. Cohen."

"First of all, Ryan told us a few months ago that your mother got layed off. I hope you don't mind me asking, but is she still out of work?"

"She got a job, but it isn't as good as her last job. She's still looking for something better."

"Your house, in Chino -- does your mother own it, or do you rent?"

"We rent."

Ryan was watching Sandy through all these questions. He wondered where Sandy was going with this. He couldn't believe that Sandy asked about the house. Of course they rented. No one in that neighborhood had enough money to buy a house. And anyone who had enough money to buy a house, wouldn't buy it in that neighborhood. He was hoping that Sandy wasn't just trying to make the point that he and Kirsten had more money than Theresa's Mom. Everyone already knew that.

So Ryan interrupted, "Sandy, what's your point?"

"Ryan, if you'll just hang on for a second. Theresa, do you think your mother would be willing to move out of Chino?"

"Um, yeah, maybe, why?"

"OK, here's my idea. What if Kirsten and I help your mother find a better job, maybe at Kirsten's company or my law firm? And then she can get an apartment here in Newport for you and her. Ryan can stay here with us, and you can live with your mother nearby."

Before Theresa could answer, Ryan said, "Sandy, I can't ask you and Kirsten to do that. I told you, you've done more than enough."

Sandy took a deep breath. "Yes, I know what you told me. Do you remember what else you told me? You have to do whatever it takes to protect your family? Well, Ryan, 'whatever it takes' includes letting people who care about you help you when you need it."

"Yeah, OK, but --"

"Ryan, you have to put aside this foolish pride of yours and think about your child. You told me that you don't want him or her to experience the same childhood you did, right? Well, how are you more likely to be able to accomplish that? If you live here in Newport with the support of two families, or if you try to make it on your own in Chino?"

Ryan couldn't answer. He lowered his head and just stared at his hands. He knew that Sandy was right, but he had a hard time accepting his help. This was his problem, not the Cohens'. He should be able to handle it. They'd done so much for him already.

Ryan looked over at Theresa when she reached over and took his hand. She understood him better than anyone. She knew this was hard for him, so she stepped in.

"Mr. Cohen, that's a very generous offer. I'm sure my Mom will consider it."

Kirsten asked, "Sweetie, would your mother be home now? Maybe you could call her and see what she says. We're not trying to rush you --"

"No, that's fine." Theresa checked her watch. Evening church services should be over by now. "Yeah, I can call her. Excuse me for a minute."

"Of course."

Theresa got up and walked out into the back yard to have some privacy while she talked to her mother.

After sitting awkwardly in the livingroom for a few moments, Ryan got up, telling Sandy and Kirsten, "I'm going to go put my stuff back in the pool house."

Kirsten told him, "Oh, um, I started to strip the bed, so you're going to need new sheets."

"OK."

Sandy and Kirsten got up and sat on the other couch, so they could watch the back yard. They watched Ryan carry his bags into the pool house. They watched Theresa talking on the phone, joined by Ryan after he dropped his stuff off. They watched Theresa finish her call, then talk it over with Ryan.

They stood up to hear the verdict when they saw Ryan and Theresa heading back into the house.

"Well?"

"My Mom says thank you for the offer. She's been wanting to move out of Chino for some time now. She says to tell you Mr. Cohen that she'll call you tomorrow to work out the details."

Sandy and Kirsten smiled at each other, and then back at Theresa and Ryan. This was going to work out.

* * *

**The End.**


End file.
